Pratt v. Ogdensburg & Lake Champlain Railroad
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Tort, with a count in contract, by Pratt and Harrison G. Brigham, against the Ogdensburg and Lake Champlain Railroad Company, a corporation, and John G. Smith and four other individuals named, “ as they are trustees and managers of the Vermont Central Railroad and of the Vermont and Canada Railroad,” to charge the defendants with the value of eleven horses killed, and the loss in value of five other horses injured, by being burned in and with a car on the Vermont Central…
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Tort, with a count in contract, by Pratt and Harrison G. Brigham, against the Ogdensburg and Lake Champlain Railroad Company, a corporation, and John G. Smith and four other individuals named, “ as they are trustees and managers of the Vermont Central Railroad and of the Vermont and Canada Railroad,” to charge the defendants with the value of eleven horses killed, and the loss in value of five other horses injured, by being burned in and with a car on the Vermont Central Railroad, while in course of transportation from Potsdam Junction, in the state of New York, and other intermediate…
1Opinion of the CourtMorton, J.
We are of opinion that several of the rulings at the trial of this case were erroneous, and that therefore a new trial must be granted.
1. Evidence of the declarations and admissions of Hobart was incompetent against either defendant. They were not declarations accompanying or forming part of any official act, and not within the scope of his authority. Such declarations are mere hearsay, and inadmissible against the principal. 1 Greenl. Ev. § 113. Nutting v. Page, 4 Gray, 581. Fogg v. Pew, 10 Gray, 409. Bank of Brighton v. Smith, 12 Allen, 243.
2. The defendants asked the court to rule that, if…
2Cases cited3 opinions
- Squire v. New York Central RailroadMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1867
- Burroughs v. Norwich & Worcester RailroadMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1868
- Gass v. New York, Providence & Boston RailroadMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1868
3Cited by10 opinions
- Holsapple v. Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburgh RailroadNew York Court of Appeals · 1881
- Boston & Maine Railroad v. OrdwayMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1886
- Frohlich v. Pennsylvania Co.Michigan Supreme Court · 1904
- L. L. Cohen & Co. v. Director General of RailroadsMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1924
- Merchants' Dispatch & Trans. Co. v. CornforthSupreme Court of Colorado · 1877
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